This movie was a history lesson for me

You'll love "Nijinsky" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081235/

Give that one a rent ...

The rumor about R. Valentino being 'gay' is only based on third hand gossip from unreliable sources. In fact, there is no proof at all of Valentino being into men. It was a rumor started based on his looks, and how he wasn't stereotypically "strong and super masculine" like the typical Hollywood leading man. He wasn't John Wayne. Of course, he was the first European actor to gain such fame, and most men couldn't stand him, due to the fact that he was so "ethnic-looking" and their girlfriends and wives were so in love with someone so different looking than them. Rudolph Valentino hated the rumors as well. Anyway, he might have been attracted to men, but there is just NO evidence anywhere to prove that fact. so it's ridiculous and pointless to speculate. Nowadays there seems to be rumors about EVERY Hollywood actor being gay. I never believe anything without actual proof. I just think it is a shame to try and slander an icon for no good reason.

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

If you are a former dancer yourself how could you have forgotten that a legendary dancer like Nureyev had died?

However time consuming and stressful the duties of marriage and motherhood may be wouldn't the fact that Nureyev no longer worked or made any public appearances remind you that he was dead??

I hope this wasn't a history lesson about Valentino for you, as the movie is infamously inaccurate on that account. You're better off with Emily Leider's biography of the man (btw he wasn't gay, though he might have been bisexual-- Leider references one possible same-sex fling from what I recall).

I'm glad you enjoyed this but I thought this was an absolutely horrendous film.

And no Valentino was not gay nor closeted though men accused him of it to demean him since he wasn't an American or Anglo masculine. They found his Italian and French masculinity undesirable. The fact that he wore jewelry and a wrist watch was enough for the jealous males of the time to call him a powder puff effeminizing the country.

This film was not only highly inaccurate in depicting Valentino but also in almost every aspect. The acting was absolutely horrendous all around. Rudolf I have to say was really bad here. He could not act, he did not look nor embody the highly and magnetic sexual and sensual intensity of Valentino. He wasn't even handsome. Valentino had an ethereal gracile beauty, very otherworldly while Rudolf was very square and hard looking. They only picked him because of his dance background but even that was all wrong because Valentino was a raw and powerful sexual dancer, Rudolf had none of that. One actor who at least attempts and captures the raw sexuality of a well known celebrity is Austin Butler in Elvis, no other Elvis actor captured that raw sex appeal. Rudolf here didn't. The Valentino (1951) though highly fictionalized is more accurate to the spirit of Valentino than this was and they attempted it with the famous dance in that film.